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Parks Canada, National Park Service Collaborate To Fight Fire In Glacier National Park

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Published Date

August 15, 2015

A fire started by lightning strikes near Goat Haunt on the northern boundary of Glacier National Park was being battled by both National Park Service and Parks Canada crews.

The wildfire was spotted Friday afternoon on the slopes of Campbell Mountain, on the west side of Upper Waterton Lake. By Saturday morning the fire was estimated at not quite 25 acres. Two ground crews and two helicopters for water dumps were battling the flames Saturday.

An "evacuation alert" had been issued Friday evening for the Waterton Park townsite, but it was later lifted. However, the area closure for the Goat Haunt area remained in effect until further notice. That closure order covered the Lakeshore Trail from the townsite to Boundary Bay, Bertha Lake Trail, Alderson Lake Trail (from the townsite trailhead), Carthew-Alderson Trail (from Summit Lake via Carthew Lakes to Alderson Lake), Boundary Creek Trail, and the Summit Lake Trail.

Light rain fell on the fire overnight, and that along with cooler temperatures Saturday had officails predicting the fire would not grow.

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Comments

Submitted by corvair on August 17, 2015 - 9:41pm.

What ever happened to "let it burn" for naturally caused fires. Have we learned nothing from Yellowstone?


Submitted by Anonymous on August 17, 2015 - 11:28pm.

Well, here in the North Cascades NP, lightning has "naturally caused fires".

These are recent quotes from inquisitr.com: "While no injuries had been reported at the time of this report, over 1,600 people had been evacuated in the Chelan area, according to the Seattle Times. While thousands of homes are in direct danger because of these fast-moving fires, so far, Dave Helvey of the Chelan County Sheriff's Office is reporting that somewhere between 50 and 75 structures have burned, though the end result could be "substantially higher."

While the fires are a real danger to thousands, report state that the fires are not being controlled at this time, and that only structure protection is being focused on due to limited resources. Fire crews and emergency workers are reportedly being pushed to their absolute limits with major fires burning not only in Chelen, but also in Okanogan, Ferry, and Yakima counties, not to mention all the fires burning in nearby states.

"There's just a real strain on all the resources we have right now," Rob Allen, the deputy incident commander, said at a Saturday briefing, citing fires burning in Oregon, Northern California, Idaho, Nevada and Colorado according to the Seattle Times."

Kinda moves it out of the debating "let it burn" luxury, eh?


Submitted by Rick B. on August 18, 2015 - 11:52am.

I apologize. I had a log-in problem yesterday and didn't mean to post anonymously. And yes, I've now moved from Alaska to North Cascades.


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